How was Bugatti Chiron Top Speed Video shot – Explained

How do you shoot the video of a car going from 0-400 kmph?

If you are one of the 40 million+ people who have watched the 0-400-0 kmph video of the mighty Bugatti Chiron with F1 legend Juan Pablo Montaya at the wheel, you probably wondered which car did the film crew use to track the Chiron from the rest to up to nearly 400 kmph. Bugatti prepared a behind-the-scenes video of the film production, but sadly, it never saw the light of day.

Al Clark of Outrun, one of the main members of the film crew which shot the stunning video, took to YouTube to release exclusive behind-the-scene clips while reminiscing what was one of the most elaborate automotive shoots he has ever done so far. He reveals the kind of equipment used to shoot the video in addition to how it was done and the challenges faced.

The video was shot at VW’s Ehra-Lessien test track near Wolfsburg and on one of the highlights of the video was the tracking shot of the Chiron launching like a missile and accelerating at a scarcely believable rate. All that while, a tracking camera car was keeping up pace with the Veyron successor almost till 400 kmph. The video of the car hurtling down the track has not been doctored (not artificially sped up).

Shooting the Top Speed of World’s Fastest Car

So, which could keep pace with the world-record-setting Chiron, you ask? Well, if you think about it, it can only be another Chiron! The idea of mounting a camera rig on a Chiron was so outrageous for most of us to imagine and hence we overlooked the obvious. As Clark shows in this video, a compact sophisticated camera and equally sophisticated rig was mounted on the right edge of the tracking Chiron’s rear bumper. After multiple trial runs, the film crew and Juan Pablo nailed the hair raising clip.

The Bugatti Chiron is powered by a massive 8.0-liter W16 quad-turbo petrol engine which produces a colossal 1,500 hp and 1,600 Nm of torque. The French hypercar can accelerate from 0-100 kmph in 2.3 seconds before hitting a top-speed of well over 400 kmph. A 7-speed dual-clutch transmission drives all the four wheels. The Chiron SuperSport 300+ variant set a world speed record of 304.773 mph (490.48 kmph).

In August 2017, the Bugatti Chiron set a world record for 0-400-0 kmph run with an incredible time of 42 seconds. Just a couple of months later, the hypercar rival Koenigsegg Agera shattered the record by registering a time of 37.28 seconds and coming to a halt a nearly 600 meters earlier than what the Bugatti Chiron managed.